


Four Times (Plus One) That Komal Broke Something

by terajk



Category: Chak De! India (2007)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-10-27
Updated: 2011-10-27
Packaged: 2017-10-25 00:34:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 489
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/269677
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/terajk/pseuds/terajk
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>She decided then and there to break as many things as she could.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Four Times (Plus One) That Komal Broke Something

**Author's Note:**

  * For [paperwar](https://archiveofourown.org/users/paperwar/gifts).



> Many thanks to troisroyaumes for her fabulous beta work. All errors are mine.

**1**

Komal was six years old when she broke her first window. The neighborhood boys always let her play because "Komal isn't really a girl.” She was glad on the one hand but angry on the other, because who did they think they were, telling her what she was or wasn't? Komal was Komal, and she smashed a cricket ball into Mr. Kapoor's car window to prove it. (Even now she was ashamed to remember it; how could she have ever played _cricket?)_

"I'll kill you, you filthy boys!" Mr. Kapoor shouted and Komal ran, smashing through the sound of his voice, a cricket ball flying through space. She decided then and there to break as many things as she could.

 

**3**

When Komal broke her arm during practice, Preeti said, "You _idiot!_  I was open!"

Maybe Komal had been an idiot. She'd only seen the ball and she'd run, forgetting that she was part of a team, that the ball belonged to all of them.  Komal was too busy breaking through the air itself (the cries of _dirty Jat, dirty Jat),_ sweeping her hockey stick and then falling, falling, falling hard on her shoulder.

"What are you doing," Coach Khan said. (It was not a question). "You'll probably be out for the rest of the season. I thought you wanted to play hockey."

"I wanted," said Komal through clenched teeth, "to hit the ball. And I did."

 

  **2**

One of the good things about being so small was that she could slip into a huge camera crew without anyone noticing. 

"Surely you're just dehydrated," that jackass was saying. "Not thinking straight."

"Surely I'm not," answered Preeti.

“But Preeti--”

“But nothing. I don’t want to marry you and that’s final.”

“How dare you?” he asked.

How dare her? How dare _her?_ Not even Preeti's ego was huge enough to need TV cameras around just to ask someone to marry her. She wasn't Komal's friend, but no matter what the newspapers or their teammates or even Coach thought, she wasn't her enemy, either. Most of all, Preeti wasn’t this jerk’s wife. She’d made that perfectly clear even if he wouldn’t listen. 

Komal didn’t know if she could make him listen, but she would make him hear. "Singh!" she called. "Abimanyu Singh!"

"What do _you_ want?" 

"This!" said Komal and promptly broke his nose.

 

**4**

"Ready?" Preeti asked.

"Always," Komal said.

They ran and ran and ran, passing the ball between them as the Sports FX animators watched and scribbled on their pads. Komal didn't think of how weird--awesome, but weird--it would be to control a tiny version of herself on a screen. She didn’t think of how _Women's World Cup 2009_ would be the first women's field hockey video game ever made. She only thought about how Komal was Komal and Preeti was Preeti and together they would smash Molly and Aliya’s passing record into a million pieces.


End file.
